Sanofi to buy biotech firm for US$2.2 billion in innovation push

SANOFI will buy Inhibrx for as much as US$2.2 billion, giving the French pharmaceutical firm ownership of a potential therapy for an inherited genetic condition called Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency. 

Inhibrx shareholders will get US$30 per share and the right to receive a contingent payment of US$5 in cash upon the achievement of a regulatory milestone, and one share of the ‘New Inhibrx’ for every four shares they hold currently, the companies said in a statement. 

Sanofi expects the deal to be financed with available cash resources. The acquisition comes as the firm snaps up promising assets in the cancer, gene therapy and rare-disease fields, amid a renewed rush for deals in the biotech space. Inhibrx’s therapy was granted fast-track review last May and attempts to treat the most common genetic cause of liver disease in children.

Sanofi has a world-beating asthma and skin drug in Dupixent but has been under pressure to show investors it can build a pipeline of new, innovative medicines, which historically haven’t been a particular strength of the company.

Its share price was jolted last October by a profit warning that wiped out about US$25 billion in market value, though the stock has since rallied.

The company has said its plans to raise spending on research and development will lead to a 50% increase in the number of late-stage clinical trials in 2024 and 2025. 

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New products Sanofi is working on include Altuviiio for hemophilia and Tzield for type-1 diabetes. The company’s more promising experimental medicines include amlitelimab for treating atopic dermatitis, a chronic skin condition, and frexalimab to target, among other things, multiple sclerosis. BLOOMBERG